my girlfriends car needed brake pads replaced and turns out one of the lugnuts is like this. what type is this so i can get a socket for it?
she also drove without a lugnut for years i cannot believe her!!
she also drove without a lugnut for years i cannot believe her!!
It;s a security lug nut.
It’s to prevent theft of the wheels.
The special socket should somewhere in the vehicle.
Check the spare tire area, glove box, etc…
If you can’t find it, parts stores sell special sockets to remove them
Tester
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tester the lugnut has 10 splines. i dont think its a security lugnut??
I’ve owned my own automotive shop for over 35 years.
The lug has a different head than the rest.
That’s a wheel lock or anti-theft lug nut.
Tester
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thank you for the feedback so would this from harborfreight work to remove this lugnut?
Yes.
Tester
Spline drive lug nuts. If you are still looking for the tool in the car, this is what the socket looks like:
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Ask her where she last bought tires at, I have seen Discount Tire put those tuner spline type lug nuts on and keep the key so you have to go back to them… Don’t think that is the norm, but people do strange things sometimes… Work beside a Mazda dealer in Nashville that kept the factory wheel lock key so you had to go back to them… Stupid but I have seen it…
If she bought the vehicle that way then if not in the vehicle then the last owner keot it in there tool box… lol
BTW Looking at the other lug nuts in the picture, you might want to go a head and just buy 20 new lug nuts cause those stupid cap covers are about to become lock nut… lol…
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Agree been there done that. 
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And also possibly new studs.
I suspect the two “good” lugnuts are stock from Chevy. But yes, new lugnuts are a good idea.
Does GM use the same type of lugnuts as Ford that are subject to swelling?
Yes GM, Ford as well as Mopar’s, Toyota and Jeeps and maybe a few others use those stupid capped lug nuts, I would not bet anything on who all I remember using them, but they are a big problem when customers are waiting in the show room, and a lot of customers blame the mechanics for the damage… They make half size sockets just for them…
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Before the at!
Yep, last oil change and tire rotation they found several on my truck, but I knew of the problem, did not surprise me. I mentioned it to the other people that were there.
About 15 minutes later another customer was informed he too had a few problematic lugnuts, even though he heard my comment, he was livid.
I had a 70 Cutlass, it had a chrome cover over a conventional lugnut, with the cover on it took an SAE socket, if the cover fell off it took metric.
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I call them lug nuts with condoms.
Tester
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Close enough for horse shoes and hand grenades, I have never clamed to be a grammar expert… 
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Lady comes to a house, a boy answers the door.
“Hello, is your mother at home?”
Boy “She ain’t home.”
“Oh my, what about your grammar?”
Boy “She ain’t home either.”
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I would consider replacing ALL of the lugnuts with solid hex-head ones with no cover
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I call out “Where are you at” and such wherever I read it, so nothing personal.
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That’s a spline drive lug nut. Very common for aftermarket wheels where the holes for the lugs are too slim for OEM lug nuts. Spline lug tools are easily found on the internet.
My “go to” for corroded, missing, or mismatched lug nuts is McGard. They are based out of Buffalo, NY (in my backyard) and they are always high quality. It costs a few bucks but saves a ton of aggravation if you have to change a tire on the road.